WLAN Use in Industry

Welcome back. After five weeks of “vacation” it has been hard getting back in the saddle, but here we go.

Our task this week touring three businesses and checking out their wireless applications. That is to say how each facility executes wireless devices in their daily tasks.

The three companies shall be called Company A (manufacturing), Company B (government), and Company C (education). How original right? The assignment that went along with this task (you know we didn’t go for the fun of it) even though it was fun and very informative; was to fill in the answers for the following questions:

1. What type of wireless access points do they use?

A. Cisco WAAP 1242, 3502, 3702BI; and they used Cisco 702 which is a small white box to sniff out any dead areas or areas without signal coverage.

B. Cisco and HP products and “hot Spots” for their vehicles.

C. Aerohive models AP330 and A230.

1. How many wireless access points are used throughout the facility? A. 250 devices throughout three buildings.

B. Six on site, with 18 locations supported by the Data Center.

C. 600 access points.

1. What types of devices use the access points?

A. Laptops, tablets, handheld scanners, VoIP hand held devices, Monitors for the fork trucks, RF ID tags to monitor product movement, Wireless Smart carts for product transport between lines.

B. 230 PCs, 30 servers, security cameras, body cameras, in house network for meetings, and outside network for work trucks, Wireless network between various buildings. Wireless also supports traffic lights.

C. Mac PCs and iPads galore. The network system supports timing system for time period control, and Closed Circuit video which is run on VLAN supporting 170 cameras.

1. What types of wireless connection issues does your organization face?

A. Bluetooth connection interference by BYOD, iron support columns from building structure, plant floor layout changes for product reconfiguring.

B. Line of sight between buildings, wind causing distortion of Radio Frequency.

C. BYOB device and proper authorization for connection.

1. Are there any compliance requirements (Sarbanes Oxley, etc.) your company must abide by?

A. OSHA and Peripheral Component Interface for the card readers at secured doors.

B. United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and the Payment Card Industry regulation for the protection of private citizen information.

C. FCC rulings for control of the Radio Frequency channels, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Science Education Partnership Awards, and E-RATE Program.

1. What is the organizations policy regarding Bring Your Own Devices (B.Y.O.D.)?

A. The only device allowed is the iPhone which is provided by the company. Personal iPhone usage must be pre-approved by administration.

B. Employees may have what they want, however, if the administration does not approve, it will not be connected to the main system for security reasons. Instructions are given for individual connection of devices for guest usage.

C. You may bring whatever you want, however, it can only be connected to the network with the approval of the administration.

1. How critical is wireless access to your company?

A. Wireless is most important for this company. The size of the facility, the number of individual buildings, and the machinery which relies on wireless is mind boggling. Personnel wireless communication is mandatory. The amount of human interaction on a daily basis could not be possible without Wi-Fi.

B. Wireless networking is required due to the size of city and the number of locations which are supported along with the various vehicle support.

C. Critical due to the support of the district buildings and all the events throughout the school year. Each student is “loaned” the use of an iPad which is tracked by a Casper Server somewhat like a GPS device in the event the device is lost or stolen.

Well, now that we have the questions answered, here is the rest of the story. (wow - even Paul Harvey shows up in these things). I found the tours to be most interesting and informative even after sitting around for the five weeks, and developing sore feet and an aching back. I have worked in industry, security, and hung out in the fire department back home, but never in all my imagination have I ever really put together how much work and brain power goes into a networking system such as we saw last week.

The first environment being industry blew me away. I have programmed robotic cells in the past, but that is only one very tiny part of a production process. I may be imagining this, but I believe the one building we saw could have held at least two football fields or more. Of all this space, there wasn’t a whole lot of area that wasn’t used. AND Wi-Fi was there. The cost of running Ethernet cable to all the separate devices would be so ridiculous that I don’t even want to go there. The Data Center consisted of three individual rooms, one for cooling, one for Uninterruptable Power Source, and one for the Data Center which had four rows of servers, switches, backup systems, and each server rack was key locked for security. Believe me, if you didn’t have any business in that area, you wouldn’t get in. The wiring was done by a contractor, and was all laid nice and neat- no spaghetti lines, labeled perfectly. What a picture perfect layout.

The second environment being government was impressive, but the Data Center was not exactly as large. It was contained in a separate room with the cooling system, UPS and the Data racks all enclosed. The wiring was all done by the in house personnel, wasn’t real pretty, but was understandable. We were able to see how the squad cars were hooked up with wireless devices and heard the “horror stories” (in my opinion) of having to go up on the roof and clear ice from the tower. It is Wisconsin you understand.

The third environment being an educational institute (this again is my opinion) should have the biggest and best system right? Well, the whole networking system was in a room with one large server rack, and two smaller racks, again UPS and cooling were all in the same room. And all wiring was done in house. Don’t get me wrong, I was in the military, and we pretty much learned to adapt and overcome. When one has limited resources - one does what one can do, and excels miraculously. I can’t resist putting this line in here; but this totally shows how money talks…

Each presentation included the facts that:

• A person is not expected to know everything about networks when hired.

• The human networking factor is of utmost importance.

• When interviewing, dress for the position. The IT field is not one for sluff offs, it is full of very professional individuals.

• Customer service is number one.

• There is always constant leaning on the job.

• One must discover and understand every aspect of the business.

The list goes on and on.

In closing, - as I have said many times - I found these tours to be well worth the time and effort. I have made connections these last three days, and who knows – maybe I’ll get to work in a field that I enjoy for a change.

Hang in there guys, it isn’t over yet.